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3rd party warranties aren't worth anything. The only warranty worth getting is an extended manufacturers warranty. In your mom's case, she should be able to buy an extended manufacturers warranty for a fraction of what the 3rd party warranties will charge.
You could also advise her that if she has the money for the warranty, she is much better putting it in a safe place and simply paying for any repairs that happen. For the vast majority, the extended warranties are just wasted money.
As long as the car is under the factory warranty she car still buy a manufactures warranty. Go back to the dealer and get a Manufactures warranty. If it's a dodge you want a dodge warranty. If it's GM get a GM warranty etc.
If by chance it's a Toyota let me know. I know someone that sells factory Toyota warranties.
Also know that just like auto prices you never pay sticker. The cost of the warranty can be negotiated down by about 30% normally. Been down that raod at the dealer level many times.
I bought a factory extended warranty for my Toyota (2010 Rav4) that extended the 3 year warranty to 8 year or 100,000 mile with a $50 deduct. The dealer I bought the car from wanted $2,750 for that. I found a dealer in the Midwest (via a forum for my car) that wanted $975. I'd have bought the warranty from the local dealer (because he's the one who will do any work) if he could have come anywhere even close to that, but the most he'd drop his price to was $2250.
I have the paperwork from Toyota indicating that this is indeed a factory warranty, so it was a good deal. What pushed me toward getting the extended warranty was a stupid little electric issue on my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee - first the fobs failed and then the lock mechanism on the passenger side failed (it wouldn't open with the fob or with the switch on the door). It ended up costing almost $700 to get the damned thing fixed, by the time they traced down the real problem. Had I known how much that was going to end up being, I'd never have taken it in to get it fixed.
Anyway, $975 to cover all the stupid little electric bits (electric seats, seat heat, Smart Key system) in the RAV4 for 100,000 miles - which I think I will hit long before 8 years - seemed like a reasonable deal.
I also agree with checking with your insurance company. I would call the insurance company direct as the agent may not be aware of such a coverage. Also check with your local Credit Union if you are a member of one. If you can't get a factory warranty it is better to go through an insurance company. They won't go out of business and take your money with you, which is where a lot of the bad rap about extended warranties come from.
As an independent repair shop specializing in certain makes of cars, I saw a fair number of people come through the door with 3rd party warranties ...
Of which I saw very few of them pay out anything even though the items appeared to be covered.
At best, they paid out only a small amount of the costs of repairs when they did pay anything, and they took a long time to pay, too. Initially, I would accept their direct payment to my shop for the portion of the bill they were going to pay, but they all took so long that I had to insist upon my customer paying for the repairs and then they could settle up with their insurer.
Most of the time, they found some way to deny a claim. If it was electronics, they'd claim that the car had been jump started improperly or had a charger on it that damaged the electronics or welded on without disconnecting the battery. Or proof of compliance with the maintenance schedule wasn't up to their requirements. Always something .... one fellow who perforated his oil pan in a parking lot (unknown to him) was covered for the lower oil pan damage, but not the subsequent engine failure when it ran out of oil at 75 mph on the freeway .... Or if a fuel pump failed, it was because of "bad" gasoline. And so forth ... never a clear cut case of them having a policy coverage and a willingness to pay for it.
The final straw for me as a shop was when the insurers would question my ability to diagnose a failure and "steer" the car over to one of their preferred shops for a fix. I've had blown engines in my shop with a rod hanging through a crankcase and they wouldn't take my word for it ....
Your Mom should save her money for the day when the car does need repairs.
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